Photographs
by Vinny of Despair
Summary: Kise assumed that Kasamatsu has never had a lover before, considering how grumpy he could be. Which is why the photograph of two smiling boys, who were hugging each other in an intimate way turned out to be such a huge shock.


**Fandom**: Kuroko no Basuke

**Pairing**: KiseKasa, mentions of past!ImaKasa and past!AoKise

**Words**: 2948

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke nor the characters, they belong to Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei

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Kise never realized that Kasamatsu, his captain, his senpai, his role model, his inspiration, his _love interest_, could have possibly dated before. Truthfully, it had never even crossed his mind. It just didn't seem to fit, the thought of Kasamatsu Yukio laughing and hugging and kissing some girl. Or a guy other than Kise for that matter. Maybe it was a bit ignorant of him, stupid even, but when one looked at the strict boy, the thought that he had a dating experience didn't really click.

Except it should.

Despite how tough and annoyed he always appeared, Kasamatsu was nothing like a monster underneath. Quite the opposite. He was serious about the tasks he was told to do, he was a diligent student, he cared about his teammates and friends, he liked both animals and children and he was good looking. Maybe not the kind of good looking like Kise was, but in his own way, he was very handsome. He was well toned, had beautiful eyes and an adorable smile. He was a great boyfriend material, so it was obvious that he had dated before.

Honestly, Kise had only two excuses why he chose to believe that no one would like Kasamatsu in that way. First of all, they would need to take their time and get to know the older boy in order to become familiar with his more pleasant side, and that's not something that everyone could do. Second, he had trouble talking with women, so to have one approach him and befriend and then confess, surely that was unbelievable. But no one said it had to be a woman.

"What is this" Kise whispered to himself, clutching at the photograph in his hands a bit stronger. It was a photo of two boys, two complete strangers that Ryouta didn't know, hugging each other in a way that indicated they were more than friends. One of them had short raven hair and stormy eyes, eyes that he somewhat recognized but not completely. They were filled with love and happiness, no irritation or grumpiness present. The boy was smiling gently, his arms circled around the other teen's chest.

The taller of the two had his eyes closed behind the glasses he was wearing. His hair was longer, reaching a bit under his ears. If he was smirking slyly, maybe he wouldn't be a stranger, maybe he'd remind Kise of someone he knew. But the boy on the photo was grinning, out of happiness rather than anything else. His arms were tightly circled around his lover's waist, seemingly pulling him closer and closer.

This was the first time Kise had ever seen those two boys, so bright and cheerful, with playful expressions on their faces. They looked young, they looked happy, they looked like teenage boys and not the men they became, men that Kise knew all too well.

The model turned the photo to the other side, staring at the neat handwriting he recognized without a problem. The only words written there were 'Please take care of me' with a date April 12th, two years prior.

Kasamatsu Yukio, Ryouta's love interest and the Kaijou basketball team's captain was dating Imayoshi Shouichi of Touou two years ago. But was using the past tense really correct? Were they really over? No matter how Kise looked at it, keeping a picture of an ex-boyfriend in a locker in the changing room didn't seem like a normal thing to do. Not after a break up. Usually you disposed of these sorts of things, trying to get over the person. But did that mean that they were still dating? Kise never really saw them together. Then again, he didn't see his captain all the time.

"Kise, how long are you going to stay in there?" Kasamatsu's voice sounded through the closed door. Ryouta barely closed his captain's, broken, locker when the older boy walked in, a scowl present on his face. Surely they must have broken up, why would Kasamatsu turn into a slightly bitter boy otherwise? Not even a shadow of the bright smile was present.

That's wrong, the model thought to himself. There was a smile, just as bright and lovely on his captain's face whenever they won a game. Whenever he was walking around the school together with Kobori and Moriyama, joking and laughing. Whenever he was talking on a phone with his younger brothers or mother. The smile just wasn't directed at him, ever.

"Are you okay?" Kise blinked at the sudden contact. Kasamatsu's hand was resting on his forehead, a worried look present on his face. Kise's heart fluttered in his chest at how close they were. "You don't seem to have a temperature"

"I'm fine, senpai" he insisted, giving his senior an unconvincing smile. Sometimes he hated how sharp the person he fell for could be.

"Liar" Kasamatsu said simply, pushing Kise out of the door. They were the only ones still left in the gym, because Kise insisted on extra practice. Kasamatsu said that he'd stay, too, and do some extra shoots as well. They'd often stay behind, just the two of them. It was nice. Thanks to those 'basketball dates', as Kise liked to call them in his head, he learnt a lot about his captain. That he really loved animals, but couldn't keep one at home due to his younger brother's allergy. That he was the oldest out of four siblings, while his sister was the youngest. She was only five, while his brothers were nine and twelve. That his parents were divorced and Yukio lived together with his father and siblings, but still had a very good relationship with his mother, who moved to Hong Kong. That he had a few close cousins that sometimes visited them and each of them played different sports and they'd hold competitions among each other. That he played guitar as a hobby.

While learning about these things, Kise found himself falling more and more in love with his captain, opening up his heart once more and sharing his own secrets. How his family would often nag him about many things, and how flashy his oldest sister's wedding was. About his past in Teiko, and how he used to be in love with Aomine. When he told him, Kasamatsu only patted his head and said that everything was alright, and that they already knew anyway. That he was obvious. Kise nearly cried. And yet Kasamatsu never told him a word about Imayoshi.

"Could you stop ignoring me, brat?" Kise blinked again, looking at his captain with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, senpai. I just have a lot of things on my mind right now" the other seemed to understand that Kise wasn't in the mood for conversations, so he only nodded his head, although it was obvious that he was annoyed. They continued walking in silence, heading to a small cafe which they visited frequently after practice. Either the two of them or the whole team. Kise was happy with either of the two options.

"Senpai, do you have someone that you like?" he asked suddenly, turning his head to look at his surprised partner. A light blush slowly started creeping onto his face.

"I don't see how this is any of your business" Kasamatsu said finally, averting his eyes. It was plain as the day that there obviously was a person that he wanted to give all of his attention and love to.

"That's a bit unfair, senpai. I told you about Aominecchi" he didn't mean for it to sound so accusing, so angry. But it did anyway. He expected Kasamatsu to snap at him, yell for being stupid. Instead he was met with a heavy silence. The longer they walked, making turns and waiting on pedestrian crossings, the harder it was to breath. It wasn't until they were seated in the cafe, waiting for their coffees to cool down a bit, when the older boy finally responded.

"I do. I like someone" Kasamatsu said, not looking in Kise's direction. "I liked them for a while now. But it's unrequired" Kise's eyes widened, his head quickly snapping up to look at Kasamatsu. His face was calm and void of any emotions, but there was something in his eyes, something that the blond couldn't stand seeing. He wanted to kiss the pain away, wanted his senior to feel loved and needed.

"Have you confessed?" he asked, unsure whether or not it was still okay to ask questions. Especially about a topic as sensitive and hurtful as that one.

"No. I already know the outcome, and I don't want to destroy the relationship that the two of us have right now. Just because I like them doesn't mean I can be selfish about it. It doesn't give me the right to make them troubled and put on fake smiles" Kise nodded.

"Senpai" he started, but cut off immidietly. There were boundaries that he shouldn't cross, he knew it. But on the other hand he wanted to know, selfishly, desperately needed to know whether the one Kasamatsu was talking about was still Imayoshi, or someone else. "Senpai is…" he tried again, but no words escaped his mouth this time, either.

"What? Don't pity me just because of something like that, you stupid kouhai. That's the way life is, sometimes they love you back and sometimes they don't" Kasamatsu said, his usual annoyed expression back on his face. But there was gentleness in his eyes and a small smile was forming on his face, and somehow Kise felt a sudden rush of confidence. He took out the photo that he hid in a rush before, showing it to his senior. Kasamatsu's eyes widened immidietly.

"Where'd you get-"

"Is he the person you love, senpai?" Kise cut in, staring at his senior with as much fierceness as his captain.

"I asked where you found this" Kasamatsu's voice was getting impatient and angry, and surely enough, the photo was snatched from him with a violent movement. He looked at the photo carefully, an unpleased expression settling on his face. After reading the words on the other side of the photograph, his eyes returned to Kise, whose confidence managed to disappear in a matter of seconds. "So?" Kasamatsu asked sharply, pointing at the photo with a scowl.

"The locker room. It was on the floor. I never knew you and Imayoshi-san were in such a relationship, senpai" he really hoped that it didn't sound like a bitter complain or anything of the sort. But Kasamatsu leaned across the table especially to punch him in the shoulder, so perhaps it did.

"We broke up two months after that goddamn photo was taken. It wasn't really the nicest experience in my life, so obviously I didn't go around telling everyone about it"

Kise nodded, and silence settled in between them once more. Kasamatsu didn't deny that he liked Touou's captain, so his suspicions were correct. They broke up, but the feelings never went away. Or they did, for a short while, only to return after some time.

"Why'd you have to come up with the whole teenage drama bullshit today anyway, Kise? You got rejected or something?" the tension between them was slowly fading away. Funnily enough, it was always Kasamatsu who managed to lighten up the mood between the two of them, even if Kise was supposedly the more outgoing one. Maybe it was because he was a big brother, Kise mused.

"Actually I did" the blond said as cheerfully as he could. After all Kasamatsu still liked Imayoshi, which was a sure rejection. Kise knew that it would be impossible for the two of them to be together, he was prepared for that, and yet he couldn't stop the heartache that was becoming more and more painful. "They love someone else"

"Sorry" Kasamatsu said and it made it all the worse. Because that's exactly what Kise would tell the girls that confessed to him, and he turned them down, one by one. And it made it all the more real. Kasamatsu Yukio was in love with someone, and that someone wasn't him. It might be unrequired, but he'd graduate and go to a university, and find a new love and live together with them, forgetting about that one Kise Ryouta from Kaijou.

Before he realized it, tears were slowly running down his cheeks. "Ah" his hand quickly pressed against his eyes, rubbing at them to stop the tears from escaping.

"I'm sorry senpai, I…" before he could say anything else, a jacket was thrown at his face. He heard his captain stand up and move closer to him, pulling him out of the restaurant. He wasn't sure where they were going, Kasamatsu's jacket still pressing against his face. It smelled like him and instead of calming him down, even more tears flew out.

"You idiot. You can't just break down in the middle of a cafe like that. You're a model and I sure as hell don't want to be on the covers with some stupid headline like 'Kaijou's captain strikes again. This time he's making cute models cry'" his tone of voice, however, sounded more concerned than anything. Surely he was grumbling right now not because he was annoyed, but because he's so used to grumbling. Kise laughed shortly, removing the jacket from his face and looking into worried stormy grey eyes.

"That's a ridiculous headline, senpai" he pointed out, wiping the remaining tears from his face with the back of his face.

"Well, all of these people are ridiculous, they walk around with huge cameras and take photos of people drinking water, playing basketball and even kissing someone, that's insane"

"It's their job, senpai" Kise pointed out, wondering if he's turning into an emotional baby. He was crying just a second ago, and now he was giggling madly. Love was a scary thing. "Wait, senpai did you call me cute?" the blond recalled his senior's words. He glanced at the older boy and blinked in surprise. Before him was Kasamatsu Yukio, the tough and strict captain of Kaijou basketball team, blushing ten shades of red and looking absolutely kissable.

"I never knew that you thought I was cute, Kasamatsu-senpai" he teased, just to remember that the one his partner liked was actually Imayoshi.

"You heard me wrong, you idiot!" the older boy scolded, an even more furious blush forming on his smooth cheeks. Kise swallowed and turned his face a little.

"Don't make such a face, senpai. That's unfair"

"What's unfair, you stupid kouhai!" Kasamatsu grumbled, frustrated, still trying to pry the red from his face. He looked so adorable and vulnerable.

"You're getting my hopes up" it was a whisper, nearly inaudible in the wind. Maybe it was the emptiness of the park that seemed to make it even quieter, or maybe it was himself that tried to believe he didn't say it out loud. Or maybe it was simply the silence that fell between them that was so overwhelmingly loud.

"What did you say?" in that second Kise hoped, prayed, believed that maybe, just maybe, the other didn't hear him. But the tone of his voice was surprised and suspicious, indicating something completely different. He heard. He heard and demanded explanation. Sucking in a sharp breath, the blond looked at his senior. At his inviting, slightly parted lips, and his widened eyes, more beautiful than anything he's ever seen. His eyebrows, raised in confusion and the nose, scrunched a little bit in bewilderment.

"I like you, senpai" he said, loudly enough for the other to hear him. He could feel his heart beating louder and louder, slowly becoming deafening in his ears. Could Kasamatsu hear it, too? Why wasn't he saying anything, why wasn't he rejecting him? It was obvious how it would be, he had Imayoshi after all, he-

"If you're kidding, I'm going to murder you" Kasamatsu said in a low growl, and before Kise could even react, a hand pulled him by his tie and his lips crashed against his senior's. His eyes widened in confusion, so many questions pilling up at the back of his tongue, ready to be asked. Instead of asking, though, he closed his eyes and cupped Kasamatsu's cheek with his right hand, moving his lips frantically against his senior's. At first it was a sloppy kiss, just lips moving against each other quickly and teeth clicking from time to time, but it was full of love and raw emotions. Kasamatsu moved away a bit, gazing up at Kise with half lidded eyes, a tiny smile on his face.

"I'm going to kick you" he said. The blond decided that the beating might wait, though, as he pulled his captain closer once more, crushing their lips together yet again. This time their lips moved against each other slowly, more sensually. Kasamatsu's lips tasted like a bitter coffee that he was drinking just a while ago, and yet it was one of the sweetest things Kise had ever tasted. They finally broke apart, looking at each other with amazed eyes. Kasamatsu's lips curled into a small, gentle smile and it was the most amazing and breath-taking sight the model had ever seen.

"What about Imayoshi-san?" Kasamatsu pinched his cheek.

"Are you an idiot, or what? He's got nothing to do with it" Kise rubbed his cheek, suddenly realizing how fast his heart was beating. And it wasn't only his.

"Then is it okay to selfishly think that I'm the one that you like, Kasamatsu-senpai?" the only reply he received was a bittersweet taste of his senior's lips, pressed against his own once again.

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**A/N: _Thank you very much for reading_**


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